Photographer engulfed by flames after being hit by stun grenade in Greece

Reuters photographer Yannis Behrakis has been covering conflicts for more than 24 years. In September he ended up on the business end of a stun grenade, thrown at him by riot police in Thessaloniki, Greece. "The explosion ripped a hole in my boot and caused minor first degree burns to my foot," Behrakis says.

"Many times when you are out covering the riots, you have the feeling that everybody hates you or loves you depending on their needs," says Behrakis. "The protesters want you to photograph the police beating them up or shooting tear gas at them but they don’t want to be photographed throwing rocks or petrol bombs at the police. Several times we’ve been victims of the police and sometimes protesters’ brutality because we took pictures of them during the riots. Many times protesters will ask you to erase your cards or in some cases they will destroy your equipment, threaten you verbally or even hit you. There is generally an anti-journalistic feeling on the streets.